


Toulouse

by fortunate



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, i don't even know it's 3 am and i needed something for femslash feb please forgive me for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 16:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5877781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunate/pseuds/fortunate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well, with all the insecurity here lately my dad didn’t want me to stay in Paris and my Aunt Caroline lives in Toulouse…” She drifts off, and even though she tries to hide it, Chloé knows that Sabrina is serious about wanting to leave Paris, and her, but mostly Paris.<br/>It’s not like she needs her anyways. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Toulouse

“I’m not going to be able to do your homework this week.” 

Sabrina’s voice is quiet and soft and their faces are so close she can smell the soapy smell that seems to fill the air whenever she’s near. She subconsciously moves away before she even fully understands what Sabrina just said. Then, her face shifts into a confused frown. She doesn’t say anything, but she looks Sabrina up and down as she continues; “I  _ might  _ have an admission exam in Toulouse?” 

Chloé is surprised. Her eyebrows go up and she’s not able to frown. She wants to, though. But lately, being selfish around Sabrina is a little  _ harder _ ? She’s not sure she knows how to explain it. 

She’s not sure she wants to, either. 

“I didn’t know you wanted to go to Toulouse?” She finally says, and she avoids her eyes, settling for her eyebrows instead. They were full and red and really contrasted with her pale skin. Her favorite doll when she was little looked like that (and she’s not sure if that’s why she chose it).    
Sabrina’s eyebrows almost meet her hairline, and Chloé’s eyes accidentally divert to her lips, slightly opened and shiny, like she’d just licked them. She doesn’t stare long.

“Well, with all the insecurity here lately my dad didn’t want me to stay in Paris and my Aunt Caroline lives in Toulouse…” She drifts off, and even though she tries to hide it, Chloe  _ knows _ that Sabrina is serious about wanting to leave Paris, and her, but mostly Paris. 

Chloé says it’s fine after her long explanation, and mentions something about asking Adrien before wishing her luck. 

It’s not like she needs her anyways.  _ Right? _

* * *

“ _ Toulouse?! _ ” Her father exclaims, outraged. “But  _ why? _ Paris has great schools! All your world is here? I don’t understand why you’d want to go  _ there _ . Think about the appearances, Chloé! I’m Paris’s mayor! What would they think if  _ my _ daughter wanted to leave the city?”

The blonde girl looks down at her silky napkin. It has a lipstick strain, since it accidentally came off when she wiped her hot chocolate away. 

She stays silent for a long time, and lets her face go red in anger. (A very practiced fury at that, because her father is so predictable she’s had this conversation in her head at least fifteen times.) “ _ So what _ ?” And there hasn’t been so much disdain in her voice in a long time, and she has never looked at another human being with such annoyance. “Do you know how many times my life has been threatened since I turned fourteen dad?” it’s so much she doesn’t even look up, instead she starts cutting off her omelette. The sound of porcelain being scratched - a high-pitched noise that reminds her of nails in a chalkboard- fills the room. “Thirty four. And you know what they said? That it was  _ my _ fault because I’m not traditionally nice. Anyways. I get a chance of going away to a safer city where I have a lower chance of dying. And what’s your reaction? I swear you’re worse than my  _ mother _ .” And her voice cracks. Her voice cracks because  _ yes _ she’s a shitty person. And a mean person. But she is also a child who never got a chance to grow up, and she’s so done with that.

She sells a random dress and uses the money to pay for the application fee. She also makes Sabrina’s homework (with help from the tutor she’s always needed) and sends her a text wishing her good luck. 

* * *

 

“You shouldn’t have!” And it’s probably the cutest thing she’s heard. 

Chloé thinks it’s only fair. She shrugs and rolls her eyes and says it’s not a big deal. ( It shouldn’t be, right? Friends do that for each other like, all the time. At least Alya and Marinette do.)

And Sabrina hugs her.

She doesn’t hug back, but she rests her head on her shoulder and lightly presses her forehead against it. She doesn’t deserve this. But she likes it so much she’d do it again a thousand times. 

(It’s even better than buying her stuff.)

And Chloé thinks that she knows  _ why _ she feels the way she does when Sabrina is happy. Why she makes Chloé feel more alive than anyone else. 

She loves her.

But not in the way she loves Adrien. This is different. This is so much more deep and much more. This isn’t about owning her. Well, at first it was. But now it’s not.

“Sabrina…” And she says. 

Sadly, the little red head seems to confuse it with her  _ stop-invading-my-personal-space _ voice and moves away. She looks down, even apologizes. And Chloé can’t bring herself to tell her that it’s okay, she actually wasn’t complaining. Instead she says, “It’s fine. I’m not sure question five is correct, are you okay with that?”

Sabrina nods, and they go to class, where Chloé’s knee finds itself glued to hers. 

“Hey, um… about Toulouse?” She wasn’t as  _ suave  _ as she was in her daydreams, Chloé realized. “I like- I mean if we both get in and all that… we should like, totally be flatmates.”

Sabrina nods with a bright smile on her face, and a smug grin spreads around Chloé’s. 

* * *

Thirty four turns to thirty five the first time she invites Sabrina to a sleep over since she realized her feelings, the supposed victim being her math teacher who was mad she said that she was a crap teacher to someone who mentioned that to the principal who told her appearances are important and that she could get fired if she pissed Chloé  off. And no matter how much she, the major’s daughter tries can’t get used to near-death experiences. That night she breaks her leg and Sabrina gets on the ambulance with her by force, and that almost makes her cry because _how dare Chloé assume Sabrina doesn’t have a backbone_.

She’s half-sedated by painkillers when Sabrina places a kiss on her forehead. 

Chloé believes it was just a dream.

* * *

“Chloé, are you alright?” And her world crumbles. Sabrina must’ve figured out her feelings and decided that Chloé is disgusting and she’s just trying to softly leave her.

“Wha-Why do you ask?” And her voice is so terrifyingly small Chloé doesn’t recognize it. Sabrina doesn’t either, and her eyebrows come closer in what looks like a motherly frown. 

“You almost died last night, Chloé.”  _ Oh, that _ . Well, at least Sabrina still worries about her. The thought makes her feel weird, like her insides were some soda and someone had decided to shake it so now she was dripping sweet bubbles. She takes a deep breath to take in her surroundings, the hospital smells clean, but not soapy. However, Sabrina doesn’t smell soapy. And she’s wearing the same pair of shorts. She hasn’t left the hospital. She stayed with  _ Chloé _ . There are so many bubbles she’s not sure how the bottle still has some content.

“ _ Last night? _ How long have I been out?” 

Turns out she had been out for twelve hours.  _ And _ Ladybug hadn’t caught the akumized teacher yet. “Most of the city is in lockdown. The attacks hadn’t been this bad in  _ months. _ ” Explains Sabrina, and her hand is on Chloé’s shoulder. 

When she moves it to show Chloé a Alya’s coverage of the event, the spot feels very very cold.

* * *

Power is cut off. Paris has never been this silent. Or cold. Almost answering to the situation, the weather decided it was time for snow, and hospital gowns aren’t known for their  warming abilities, so Chloé sort of has all of the blankets in the room, even though Sabrina’s teeth are making an annoying chittery noise that won’t let her nap. Chloé groans.

“Oh my  _ god _ Sabrina, just sleep with me.” There should be more innocence behind that sentence. She should be trying to get her friend warm, not trying to get her annoying noise to stop. 

It’s not until Sabrina’s slightly shorter form sneaks into the bed that she realizes that the noise of her teeth will only be replaced by Chloé’s beating heart. But it’s too late to turn back. 

They’re looking into each other’s eyes. Chloé has a pout, because really that’s her default expression, but Sabrina has a weird look. Like she’s thinking too much. Her dad is probably out there trying to fight, so Chloé doesn’t blame her. 

But then, Chloé blinks, and as she does that a small pair of lips crash into hers. It’s so fast they barely touch, it’s so fast Chloé isn’t sure it was really a kiss. But she lets herself think it was. They go back to the staring, but Chloé doesn’t pout, and Sabrina doesn’t look nearly as confused. 

But they don’t mention it again. 

* * *

Ladybug and Chat Noir don’t cleanse the woman’s soul until noon the next day, and unluckily, Ladybug’s charm fixes the electricity and the hospital resumes activities, so when Chloé is waken up by her nurse, Sabrina is nowhere to be seen. The Nurse explains something about anatomy and her broken ankle that she would’ve understood better if she’d paid more attention in school.

When she’s gone, Chloé checks her phone for any text messages. There’s nothing. No missed calls, no text messages. There’s only one new email, and it has her schedule for the next week. She throws the phone against the wall and the screen crumbles.  _ Whatever, it’s not like I can’t get another one.  _

And it’s one of those things that make Chloé feel small again. It had been almost  _ three _ days without one. It was like she was whole again. But of course, Chloé can’t keep pretty things. That’s what her mom said whenever Chloé broke something. “ _ I can get you all the pretty things you want and you’ll destroy them. Just because!” _

Sometimes Chloé feels like that’s why she left. She was beautiful and kind, and Chloé broke that. Maybe. Just like she could’ve broken Sabrina right now, and just like she has broken her so many times. 

She has a pretty ankle, maybe that’s why it broke in the first place. 

Maybe she’s just doing to herself what she does to everyone else. 

* * *

They run an x-ray test on her. A full body one. It turns out her back is pretty much messed up and it’s actually a miracle she can walk straight. Chloé feels like this should be surprising, but really it’s the only reason she settles with low shoes instead of the huge heels she’d like to wear.

Also, her ankle will take a pretty long time to heal, apparently. They ask her if she has a family, and Chloé realizes Sabrina didn’t give her name. She decides to call Adrien, they look alike anyways. He rushes over, and Chloé thinks about how amazing it is that he still cares about her and even  _ likes _ her after all those years in which she a) fake flirted with him to make someone else uncomfortable b) ignored their past friendship when he needed it and c) humiliated his friends more than once. But Adrien is either good at forgiving, or bad at remembering. He stays on the waiting room while they get her wrapped up and then drives her to an ice cream parlor near the hospital.  Chloé finds herself telling him what happened with Sabrina. (Leaving out the kiss.)

And he looks at her with that funny brotherly look he has sometimes; tilted head, eyebrows slightly raised and an unreadable grin. “ _ You _ did  _ her _ homework?” And a blush spreads through Chloé’s cheeks. 

“Shut up! You have no right to tease me about it!” But her frown is not  _ entirely _ genuine. 

“Oh but I just payed your hospital bills  _ and _ lied to a kind nurse, I think I’ve earned it” He says, after laughing softly and sticking out his tongue. Chloé elbows him and almost drops her ice cream (she refuses to call it sherbet, much to Adrien’s despair) in the process. 

She decides to change the subject to hairdye, then to shoes, then to her back, then to traveling and then to college. Suddenly their conversation reaches a circle, because the topic of Chloé’s “Strong Feelings For Sabrina” seems unavoidable. 

They no longer have ice cream, and Adrien hands her a baby wipe to take off the stickiness from her fingers. She tries to focus on that as Adrien gives her a monologue about how love changes your life and following your heart and things that sound so cheesy he should probably write it down and make an inspiring instagram account filled with aesthetically pleasing images that have his quotes on them. 

“When have you ever been in love? Are you sure you’re not just trying to hard to fit the ‘ _ Romantic French Guy Stereotype’ _ that helps make Paris a profitable city?” And Adrien rolls his eyes, not with annoyance but with some anger. And she’s so used to being mean she’s not sure that she’s sorry she said it. She’s just sorry he got offended. 

“Seriously Chloé! Like, will you ever let me help you?” And his hand movements are so exaggerated that Chloé feels like this is a play. That they’ll have a big fight. She says she’s sorry, and expects him to say that means nothing if she doesn’t mean it. And she feels like she’ll have a change of heart and suddenly being kind will be as easy as it is for Marinette. And her dad will let her go to Toulouse where she’ll live with Sabrina and they’ll have two cats and birds will make nests around their windows and she’ll inherit the hotel and be happy with Sabrina forever and she’ll be the godmother to Adrien’s children.

Instead, Adrien shrugs her off. “Just try a little harder? Like, I  _ know _ you’re not good at this, but just  _ try _ to listen?” He’s too nice for his own good, and Chloé can only hope he doesn’t end up married to someone like her, because if he does he’ll be even more unhappy than he is with her. 

“I said I was _sorry_ ” And Adrien says he’ll go dump their trash. When he’s out of earshot, he sends a text and hits the garbage can. When he comes back he act like nothing happened and so does Chloé. The subject drifts back to hair dye and it doesn’t drift from there, because it’s too cold for Chloé’s current outfit and Adrien has a shoot in a few hours, so he needs to go get the make up. 

Some hours after getting dropped off and being scolded for disappearing and breaking her leg, she sends Adrien a text. 

_ I’m sorry about earlier. Thanks for… everything, really. _

He takes less than ten minutes to read it, and he types for a long time. Five whole minutes. 

_ “it’s whatever, chlo why do u use propr gramar in texts? u r like a grandma _ .” Is the final message, followed by a bunch of gross-old-people emojis. 

_ Eww! I am  _ not _ like that!  _  She stops herself from correcting his spelling and lets out a snort.

_ u are and u know it  _

She smiles at her screen, until a very different ringtone pops, and a picture of Sabrina pops up in her screen. Her hands shake a little, but she picks up  _ very _ fast. Usually she’d let it ring once or twice before answering. 

“Hey.” Says Sabrina simply, like she hadn’t abandoned her in the hospital. And Chloé wonders if she’s finally rubbing off on her. It would be a terrible shame if she had. 

“Hey. What’s up?” And she sounds detached, like always, which is totally accidental. 

Sabrina doesn’t immediately answer, but there is a lot of shuffling noise in the background. “I came back to the hospital. Looking for you.” Her tone mirrors hers.  _ So this is how it’s going to be, huh? _ she thinks, and something in her stomach stings, because not-so-deep down she knows it doesn’t  _ have _ to be. She doesn’t need to hide from Sabrina, and she doesn’t need to hurt her anymore. They should actually be healing each other. This is fucking  _ wrong _ . 

But Chloé doesn’t know how to do anything else. 

“I came back home.” She says. And there is some feeling to it. There’s a chance that Sabrina feels it, too.

There is more shuffling. “I noticed. Your chandelier is visible from the street.” 

Chloé lets out a gasp. And stands up, even though she’s wearing some old cringe-worthy Ladybug pajamas she walks over to the balcony and looks down. There is a crowd, and there are at least three redheads in it, but none have glasses.

“Where are you?” She says, and the smile sounds so evident she blushes. Sabrina chuckles and there is a knock on her door.  She doesn’t hang up until she opens the door. 

She’s not sure who starts the hug, but she is the one who ends it. 

“I can’t believe you let me go out! It’s freezing  _ and  _ I just broke my ankle!”

Chloé shrugs it off. Sabrina is wearing her Chat Noir t-shirt and Chloé can’t help but remember when they were akumized. Sabrina hadn’t  _ really  _ hurted her, had she?

Compared to the rest, she was actually quite decent, even though she had the most resources to hurt her. She was okay even when she was possessed.

Sabrina helps Chloé get to her bed and takes the spot next to her. “Should we talk about last night?”

Chloé says she doesn’t know. 

Sabrina takes it as a yes. “It’s not the first time I kiss a girl.” She states, and her voice is a little rough and shaky. 

And her nervousness is endearing as always, but the news hit Chloé harder than she expected. She is left speechless.

“Okay.” Chloé had never kissed a girl. She had never kissed anyone in an intimate way, either. Just boys who wanted her for money or for popularity or looks or because they were under the impression she’d change for them. (She wasn’t bitter about that. It was always a mutual agreement.) 

But Chloé always  _ wanted _ to kiss girls. Since she was a little girl. Even before she knew what that meant, she was curious. 

Sabrina still looks tense, “So… then you’re not going to stop being my friend because I’m bi?”

Chloé’s fist clenches. She’s not sure why, maybe because Sabrina thinks she’s going to use this against her, maybe because she’s not looking for a relationship with Chloé. “ _ I’m fucking gay of course I don’t mind.” _ And it  _ does _ sound angry, but Chloé buries her head on Sabrina’s shoulder.

Sabrina hugs back, and it’s not until a small drop falls on Chloé’s ear that she realizes Sabrina is crying. She lets go and then hugs her again, only this time it’s Chloé who shields her. She pats her red hair, not focusing on how soft it is. And she starts mumbling without thinking. And she’s mumbling how much she loves and cares for Sabrina like a kid does with a prayer; they mean it but they are not sure how it will work. They just want to do it because it seems to protect them and others from evil.

They fall asleep like that, and when they wake up Chloé’s leg hurts like hell, but she can’t seem to mind. 

* * *

“I can’t believe you can’t wash the dishes! We’ve been living here for two months!” Sabrina says between giggles, and Chloé frowns to hide her embarrassment.

_ It could be worse,  _ she thinks, because she could be having this coversation with some insensitive dorm mate back in Paris where she could be attacked at any moment. Or she could have this conversation with her mother, which would be aggravating and exhausting and would probably end with Chloé crying. But instead she’s having it with Sabrina, who is understanding and kind and lets her be because she knows her. Sabrina who helps her catch up and understand the subjects she never tried to get in school. Sabrina who is the best girlfriend ever. Sabrina who has always been there for her, and who understands her even more than Adrien. 

Sabrina who is in love with her despite her flaws. 

So, yeah, she is annoyed, but she’s not complaining. 

There is  _ no way _ she’s doing the dishes today, though. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Last night, at 11pm I discovered Femslash February was the only thing in this planet that can get me to write more than 1000 words in one night, so of course I posted the first thing I write in more than two years.


End file.
